Editorial: Not the time to mess with N.J. beach fees

People stand and walk Thursday, May 27, 2010, near the huge Wildwoods sign on the boardwalk in Wlidwood, ridiculously wide beaches that don't cost a penny, a funky boardwalk and tons of chrome-and-neon doo-wop style architecture have made the Wildwoods a prime vacation resort for decades. (AP File Photo/Mel Evans)

They’re ready to ban beach tags in any shore town that takes federal or state Hurricane Sandy aid. The legislation is sponsored by the odd couple of state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-3rd Dist., of West Deptford, and Sen. Michael Doherty, R-Warren, who come from opposite ends of the state and hold distinctly different political philosophies.

In Wildwood, which has one of Jersey’s few free beaches, the city council acted Friday to authorize the fee referendum. Residents rejected fees in 1976 and 1981, which suggested a certain don’t-kill-the-goose-that-lays-the-golden-egg reasoning: Beaches in the Wildwoods (and to a lesser extent, Atlantic City) are crowded and generate business because visitors don’t have to shell out fees.

We’ll learn in March if Wildwood citizens now think the cost of providing beach services like lifeguards ($1 million a year, 75 percent of which comes from local taxpayers) have reached a tipping point.

At the same time, there’s considerable logic in the Sweeney-Doherty bill: While state and federal funds don’t pay directly for routine beach maintenance, lots of outside money goes to shore towns that have their beaches replenished every year, Sandy or no Sandy. Why, the lawmakers ask, should anyone have to pay to sit on a beach that their tax dollars paid for?

Good question. New Jersey’s custom of charging for public ocean beach access in nearly all towns is unheard of in other coastal states.

Using Sandy’s unusual degree of devastation as a catalyst for wiping out beach fees does seem opportunistic, though. The bill is retroactive to Nov. 1, 2012. Then again, Wildwood’s push to start selling tags as it potentially collects extra aid dollars this year from outside taxpayers is one in-your-face “thank you.”

Frankly, to quote our governor, both of these plans should “get the hell off the beach” for the post-Sandy season. Shore towns do have other options (higher parking fees, etc.) to recover seasonal costs. Let’s rebuild this spring, and consider changes for 2014.